


After the Con

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cosplay, Jealous Arthur, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The guys come back after the convention</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Con

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd, sorry.
> 
> Figured, [Free!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6385930) needed a sequel.

Merlin pulled the wig off his head as they entered their place and set his bag down. “I’ll be right back, just going to take the contacts out.”

Arthur nodded and looked after his boyfriend as he swayed his barely-clad arse to the bathroom. He was tired, too. He was sure that Merlin had seen right through him when he had found a reason to accompany him to the convention. It had been so weird looking at Merlin all day long with his sand-blond wig and the overly large green eyes that had looked even bigger due to the make-up Merlin had put on carefully. 

It had been an exceptionally hot day for the beginning of May and that hadn’t made it more enjoyable to be in a crowd that wandered through stuffy halls. But then…they hadn’t done much wandering anyway. Every couple of steps, Merlin had either found people who cosplayed characters from the same show and had to have his photo taken with them or someone stopped him to ask for a photo. Being the good boyfriend that he was, Arthur had held on to Merlin’s backpack and/or taken the photo. 

That Percy had showed up as Sooski (or whatever that character was called) and looked just as strange in his short dark wig and almost teal contacts and Gwaine as Din with a weird red wig and red contacts didn’t really help. They were his friends, Arthur knew, but he would never get why grown-up people wanted to be anime characters. That they all dragged about plush fish in various sizes…he didn’t even want to know.

Arthur kicked his shoes off and went to the kitchen to get himself a cold drink. “Care for a lemonade?” He yelled towards the general direction of the bathroom but he only heard the shower going. 

That was probably a good idea, too. They had been outside for a while since Merlin and the others wanted to do a photo shoot and had asked Gwen – who was dressed up as some other amine character Arthur didn’t know – to take photos. He had sat on a small wall nearby, guarding the various bags and props they had along and watched how his friends waded about in a fountain, splashing each other and doing other crazy things. If he didn’t know that Percy and Gwaine were as close as Merlin and he were, he would have been really jealous of the photos where Percy and Merlin stood real close and threw each other soulful looks. 

While sitting there, watching this photo shooting and some others that took place closeby, Arthur was sure he caught himself a bit of a sunburn. Downing the lemonade, he scratched at his chest and walked back to the main room, wondering what Merlin hid in his backpack. He had seen him at several merchandising stands, looking at things and Arthur was sure that quite a bit of it had found its way into Merlin’s bag. 

They had tried weird Japanese foods and stuff that was really good and had fun at the karaoke. 

Arthur had to admit that even though these conventions were too loud, too colourful, too much of everything, it hadn’t been half bad. Aside from him having to glare at others (men and women alike) who wanted to get a bit too close to Merlin, it had been exhausting having to keep an eye on what was rightfully his. He knew he needn’t have worried. At the end of the day, Merlin always came back to him, but sometimes he was just a bit too naïve and trusty to even realize that people were ogling him and coming on to him. 

“Here.” 

Arthur’s head snapped up; he must have dozed off for a moment. Merlin stood in front of him in nothing but an old towel and held a fresh glass of lemonade out to him. “Thanks.” He scrambled up and took the glass.

Merlin sat on the coffee table and sipped his own drink. “No, thank you.”

“Hm?”

“For coming along. I know this isn’t your scene. You could have stayed home or gone to watch some footie match and you still came and did this for me.” Merlin smiled. 

“It’s really weird to see you like that. I know it’s you…and then at the same time it isn’t.”

“That’s part of the fun.” Merlin grinned. “And look at the others. Wasn’t Percy a great Sousuke and Gwaine a wonderful Rin?”

“I haven’t seen any better ones,” Arthur admitted. There had been lots of cosplayers who were there as the same characters and most of them had been female. So Merlin and the others had attracted quite a bit of attention. “So…this…Sooski and your Makto…they’re together?”

“Sousuke and Makoto. No, nobody’s really ‘together’ on the show. But the fans like that pairing, that’s why we took the photos.”

“And it was really just Sooske and Makoto?” Arthur felt stupid. It was a childish question. But it had looked so real.

Merlin smiled. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.” He set his glass aside, got up and straddled Arthur’s lap. 

“I wasn’t jealous!”

“You were.” Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck. “All day long you followed me closely. You didn’t even let me go to the loo by myself, growled at everyone who came a bit too close and glared daggers at people talking to me.” He leaned in and kissed him softly. 

“I need to work on that.” Arthur admitted. It was awkward that he hadn’t been subtle enough and Merlin had noticed.

“On being jealous or on being so obvious?” Merlin grinned.

“Oh, come here.” Arthur pulled Merlin down and kissed him properly.


End file.
